Amendment I (Speech and Press)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

1.An Act for Preventing the Frequent Abuses in Printing Seditious Treasonable and Unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for Regulating Printing and Printing Presses, 33 1662
2.David Hume, Of the Liberty of the Press, 1742
3.Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, bk. 12, CHS. 12--13, 1748
4.William Blackstone, Commentaries 4:150--53, 1769
5.James Burgh, Political Disquisitions 3:246--52, 1775
6.Virginia Declaration of Rights, sec. 12, 12 June 1776
7.Albemarle County Instructions concerning the Virginia Constitution, Fall 1776
8.Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 16 Jan. 1787
9.Cincinnatus, no. 2, TO James Wilson, 8 Nov. 1787
10.James Wilson, Pennsylvania Ratifying Convention, 1 Dec. 1787
11.Federal Farmer, no. 16, 20 Jan. 1788
12.A Plebeian, An Address to the People of the State of New-York, Spring 1788
13.Respublica v. Oswald
14.Congress, Amendments to the Constitution, June--Sept. 1789
15.Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 28 Aug. 1789
16.Benjamin Franklin, An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania, viz., The Court of the Press, 12 Sept. 1789
17.John Marshall to a Freeholder, 20 Sept. 1798
18.Kentucky Resolutions, 10 Nov. 1798 14 Nov. 1799
19.James Madison, Virginia Resolutions, 21 Dec. 1798
20.Henry Lee, Report of the Minority on the Virginia Resolutions, 22 Jan. 1799
21.James Madison, Address of the General Assembly to the People of the Commonwealth of Virginia, 23 Jan. 1799
22.James Iredell, Charge to the Grand Jury, in Case of Fries
23.Kentucky Constitution of 1799, ART. 10, SEC. 7
24.James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolutions, Jan. 1800
25.United States v. Cooper
26.Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 4 Mar. 1801
27.St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries, 1:App. 298--99, 2:App. 12--25, 27--30, 1803
28.People v. Croswell
29.Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell, 14 June 1807
30.Updegraph v. Commonwealth
31.Commonwealth v. Blanding
32.James Kent, Commentaries 2:12--22, 1826
33.Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution 3:§§ 1874, 1876--83, 1885--86, 1833
SEE ALSO: